its nicely detailed but as far as I can tell the lighting youve painted doesnt make much sense. For example there seems to be a shadow across his pecs and abs rather than in the places shadow would normally be on a model like this. Check out the shading on this guy http://www.pioroberson.com/modelpages/info_cowknight.htm its subtle but its in the right places.
The lighting doesn't make sense in the least, and on top of that there's no consistency across the model. On the legs for instance, you seem to be going for an entirely different style from the torso, with sharp, chiselled-looking details, reminding me of a statue. With a bit of work, this style could work.
The torso has conflicting lighting, to the point of it being unsettling to look at. There seems to be no understanding of how light works there.
I suggest you start from scratch and define a light-source before you start (main lighting coming from the top with a tiny bit of bounce-light from the grounds works wonderfully. Although don't apply cast-shadows too much, only where two materials overlap etc...)
Use very big brushes to block it out, so as not to lose yourself in details, and I think you'll do a great job!
Also, your colours are all very muddy and grey. You seem to shade with black and white, and to use a smudge-tool often as well. All these things work together to make your colours very dead and underwhelming.
I've re uploaded the original image.
I've tried taking the given advice, going with a more consistent lighting scheme with more subtle tone and softened the highlights. Opinions?
your basic anatomy seems to be off on the chest, and your skin is monochromatic. that is the problem with simply putting a color overlay on top of a gray-scale texture. you really need to get some color variation in there. Currently, he looks like he's made out of bronze - i don't know if that was your intention or not.
Pea pretty much hit all the problems. shading is too much, too dark, too sudden.
Replies
...your shadows are a little desaturated and your specular too harsh and also desaturated, the hair needs some anistropic hand painted shading too
its good though, an hour or two to fix the texture and its a gooden
The torso has conflicting lighting, to the point of it being unsettling to look at. There seems to be no understanding of how light works there.
I suggest you start from scratch and define a light-source before you start (main lighting coming from the top with a tiny bit of bounce-light from the grounds works wonderfully. Although don't apply cast-shadows too much, only where two materials overlap etc...)
Use very big brushes to block it out, so as not to lose yourself in details, and I think you'll do a great job!
Also, your colours are all very muddy and grey. You seem to shade with black and white, and to use a smudge-tool often as well. All these things work together to make your colours very dead and underwhelming.
I've tried taking the given advice, going with a more consistent lighting scheme with more subtle tone and softened the highlights. Opinions?
Pea pretty much hit all the problems. shading is too much, too dark, too sudden.